Ellis Lucia / The Times-PicayuneThe Mandeville trailhead of the Tammany Trace would be the heart of a proposed town center for Mandeville.

Despite protests from some supporters, Mandeville's Planning and Zoning Commission has tabled a measure to adopt a conceptual plan aimed at creating a "town center" around the Tammany Trace trailhead in old Mandeville.

While their comments were generally supportive of the town center effort, some commissioners nonetheless said during a meeting Tuesday night that they needed more time to study the plan as well as an accompanying economic study.

The commission scheduled a Nov. 8 special meeting to again take up the town center plan drawn up by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.

The Miami company, led by noted New Urbanist planner Andres Duany, developed a plan that focuses on a "town center" straddling the Tammany Trace, roughly bounded by Girod and Carroll streets. The town center would be anchored by an expanded farmers market, a new building for community gatherings, the public library relocated from Girod Street, and a 30,000- to 50,000-square-foot community recreation and wellness center, such as a YMCA.

The plan also includes a Y-shaped pier jutting into Lake Pontchartrain and traffic circles built at the "gateway" locations of Girod and U.S. 190 and Lafitte and U.S. 190 to better steer people to the town center south of the busy highway.

The commission's adoption is but one step in a larger process. It would be up to the City Council and administration to develop the codes and perhaps even acquire the funding and land to enact some components of the plan. There is no cost estimate for the measures set forth in the concept plan.

While the town center idea hadn't generated much criticism in previous meetings, a couple of speakers Tuesday took full aim at it.

"This plan is unrealistic, unworkable and out of scale," said Jack McGuire, an old Mandeville resident and former City Council member.

Calling the plan "Duany pipe dreams," McGuire said moving the library is a "non-starter" and that the plan would create more traffic and parking headaches in old Mandeville.

And current City Councilman Jerry Coogan said he is disappointed the plan includes items such as the traffic circles and pier, which he said "lacks common sense." Coogan also questioned what the city got for its money.

Under an agreement with the Northshore Community Foundation, the foundation used $177,525 from a state grant and the city put up $67,500.

But supporters said that while the concept plan might be grandiose in some aspects, it still represents a solid vision for a true town center that would attract residents and visitors. While not everything in the plan will be feasible, it represents "a better town center and just a better Mandeville," said Tess Dennie.

And Denis Bechac, president of the Old Mandeville Business Association, said the group whole-heartedly supports it. Bechac presented the association's "position statement," which, among other items, asks the City Council to adopt a six-month moratorium on building permits in the area and wants the city to hire a master developer to implement the plan, including negotiating with private landowners for any needed property.

Reading from the statement, Bechac, a former City Council member, said the business group has pressed city administrations in the past over some of the ideas now included in the plan, "only to be met with indifference, neglect and lack of any significant action."

The statement didn't name Mayor Donald Villere, but Villere took offense.

"All you do is pontificate," Villere told Bechac, adding that "now we know why you got nothing done" on the council.

Villere's statement drew retorts from Bechac and several business association members in the audience, and Zoning Commission Chairman Nixon Adams hurriedly banged the gavel to bring the meeting back to order.